Didn't realize how long it's been since I posted anything on here. Things have been fairly crazy in my life and I haven't had much of a break. Every time I think about writing a post, I'm busy and when I finally have a few moments to sit down and get online, I either forget that I was thinking about it or there are lots of people around and I don't write well when I know someone could just look over and see my progress. I know that sound weird because I'm posting these online for everyone to see but it's just one of my many little quirks (probably picked up from my mom).
Like I said, it's been hectic since I got back from my last mission. We had to do all of our debriefing and then my team got shoved into this ridiculous two week training course that did absolutely nothing but cause us stress and basically waste a lot of time. But it was a necessary thing for us to do and I must say, we rocked it. Then, we got shoved into getting ready for our next mission and with that, the arrival of seven new team members to replace those who were leaving. I had just gotten used to the team I was on and was trying to improve in the areas that I had been having problems with and then BOOM! New people to train.So I very quickly got my act together and started trying to help the new guys get situated into Team 2.
During my time in port, after trying to get over the fact that I had had my heart broken in the middle of the last mission, I attempted to start a new relationship with a guy I met on base. In retrospect, jumping into a new relationship so soon after my last debacle and with only a few weeks to actually spend with him was not my best decision. I regret not thinking about it more because it caused unneeded drama and pain on both ends. But now my mind is clear and I know that I will be able to enjoy being single without any doubts for a while. Being in the command I'm in is not conducive to a stable relationship, I'm on mission too often to build something firm. I feel very knuckleheaded for not listening to advice given to me at the time, but at least I did come to my senses before I let things get too serious.
This mission so far has been...interesting. I won't go into details because frankly, it irritates me too much to think about certain things and I'm trying to remain calm and controlled. I've basically just been trying to focus on myself and only myself because that's all I really can do. Most things are out of my control, so I'm just gonna focus on my job and do it the best I can and hope that I'm seen for the hard worker I can really be. I don't want people focusing on the bad parts of my past anymore, I want them to see the changes and see that I want to be what I'm expected to be and better. Unfortunately, some people can't always see past my shortcomings and while I wish I could change their minds for them, I know that I can't. So that's why I just keep focusing on me and trying not to worry about what they think of who I was then. It's not easy but I make myself try, because if I don't have something to strive for, then I have nothing.
A lot of my drive and motivation has actually come from an unexpected source, I recently reconnected with my former fiancee. We're not getting back together, I don't want people to get the wrong idea, but we rekindled a friendship and he has been very helpful in giving me motivating advice and reminding me of why I do what I do. He has found a new woman to heal his heart and while there will always be that tiny pang of jealousy, simply because of our past, I am happy for the two of them and I wish him all the happiness in the world. I feel like he and I have turned a new page and while we won't ever quite get to where we were before this time last year, I have hope for our friendship and I will cherish it for as long as it lasts because he was my best friend for two years and I can never forget that.
Since this past February, I have had a lot of good moments and I have had a lot of bad moments. At some points it has seemed like the bad outweighed the good, and there were days when I didn't even feel like it was worth it to get out of bed because nothing seemed worth my time, but looking back, when I had good moments, they were really good. And I have been blessed beyond measure with the most amazing and supportive parents and family I could ever ask for. I have incredible friends that have stood by my side when I needed them most. I learned some invaluable life lessons, I learned how hurtful the world can be, but also how healing the world can be. I look back, and am grateful for every day that I got to wake up, breathe, and live this crazy life that God has given me. I've hit rock bottom and from there, turned to Him and gave everything up and He has brought me back up. I will never be the same as who I was when I arrived out here, but in some ways, I'm glad that I'm not the same. I will never make some of the same mistakes again, but others I'm sure I will, because that's what we humans do. The only true mistake though, is the one we don't learn from and I am trying so hard to learn from every little mistake I make, so that I can make myself a better person. I am not perfect, I am flawed just like the next person. There are pieces of me that have been broken that may never be fully fixed, but I hope that they are. It's a terrible thing to go through life holding on to every little bit of pain the world throws at you so I'm doing my best to just let it bounce off me and move on.
It's been a while since I've been able to coherently put my thoughts into words like this, there's been a lot of anger, hurt and sadness running through my mind, but hopefully I'm turning a corner now and can start the uphill battle. I can finally count the days until I get to go home and see my family, even for a little bit and that tiny piece of hope is enough for me.
Sorry for the feelsy kind of post but I just had to get all this out there before I said it all out loud and got reminded of the fact that I'm actually a girl by my teammates. I swear they do actually care about me..I think lol
Anyways, you guys have a great and blessed day and I will see (hopefully a good portion of people) you soon.
Love always from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Home sweet barracks
Well, I made it. First year, first command, first mission all under my little seaman belt. It was definitely an interesting few months with its fair share of ups and downs but at the end of it all, I learned a lot and I think it's going to make me better in the long run. I know I still have a lot to learn about being in the Navy as well as being an adult living on my own out here, but after everything I dealt with during mission, I think I can handle it.
I couldn't decide for a long time whether I was excited about coming back to Bahrain or dreading it. I've only been back for a day and everything already seems so different now that all my friends are either gone home or out on their own deployments. Everyone that I came here with or met during my first period of time here is pretty much gone and the base honestly seems quieter without them (ironic as the people down the hall from me are yelling so loud I can hear them almost as clearly as if they were next to me). I miss the way it was but I'm hoping I can have close to as good a time as I did before. I'm changing the way I do a few things and I'm going to be throwing myself into studying for my warfare device so I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep myself distracted enough to not think about being lonely.
My first day back consisted of me sleeping for an exceptionally long time, then doing the oh so fun task of unpacking and organizing all of my stuff. You know, for a seaman living in the barracks, I have a LOT of stuff. I didn't even realize it until I was unpacking and separating everything out to put away or clean and I realized that in the past year I have accumulated a great amount of things. Not complaining, just making an observation and wondering how on earth I'm going to get it all to my next command. I've got a year and a half before I transfer but with the rate that the first six months flew by, it's gonna creep up on me before I know it. Hooray for shipping things ahead of me.
It is fantastic to have regular access to the internet, you never know how much you use or want something until you can't have it. Spending three months with only ship email and a few military sites was enough to make me realize how much I appreciate the internet and how easy it makes contacting my family and friends. I gotta do this for another year and a half? Ugh, first world problems haha.
Well I don't have much more to say, I'm going to get some more sleep before my second day off in a row. Yea that was weird, I had all day today and I'll have all day tomorrow where I don't actually have to work and I don't know what to do with myself. I've just been sitting on my bed staring at the computer wondering what on earth I'm supposed to be doing. It's the weirdest, yet a very welcome, feeling. I'll actually be kind of glad to go into work on Sunday so I can do SOMETHING productive at least before we get our 96 special liberty and have another four days off.
Okay, going to stop rambling now. Goodnight my little blog readers!
Land-side hugs from your favorite MA,
Victoria
I couldn't decide for a long time whether I was excited about coming back to Bahrain or dreading it. I've only been back for a day and everything already seems so different now that all my friends are either gone home or out on their own deployments. Everyone that I came here with or met during my first period of time here is pretty much gone and the base honestly seems quieter without them (ironic as the people down the hall from me are yelling so loud I can hear them almost as clearly as if they were next to me). I miss the way it was but I'm hoping I can have close to as good a time as I did before. I'm changing the way I do a few things and I'm going to be throwing myself into studying for my warfare device so I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep myself distracted enough to not think about being lonely.
My first day back consisted of me sleeping for an exceptionally long time, then doing the oh so fun task of unpacking and organizing all of my stuff. You know, for a seaman living in the barracks, I have a LOT of stuff. I didn't even realize it until I was unpacking and separating everything out to put away or clean and I realized that in the past year I have accumulated a great amount of things. Not complaining, just making an observation and wondering how on earth I'm going to get it all to my next command. I've got a year and a half before I transfer but with the rate that the first six months flew by, it's gonna creep up on me before I know it. Hooray for shipping things ahead of me.
It is fantastic to have regular access to the internet, you never know how much you use or want something until you can't have it. Spending three months with only ship email and a few military sites was enough to make me realize how much I appreciate the internet and how easy it makes contacting my family and friends. I gotta do this for another year and a half? Ugh, first world problems haha.
Well I don't have much more to say, I'm going to get some more sleep before my second day off in a row. Yea that was weird, I had all day today and I'll have all day tomorrow where I don't actually have to work and I don't know what to do with myself. I've just been sitting on my bed staring at the computer wondering what on earth I'm supposed to be doing. It's the weirdest, yet a very welcome, feeling. I'll actually be kind of glad to go into work on Sunday so I can do SOMETHING productive at least before we get our 96 special liberty and have another four days off.
Okay, going to stop rambling now. Goodnight my little blog readers!
Land-side hugs from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Monday, May 12, 2014
It's only just the beginning
Wow I can't believe it's only been three weeks since we got underway. It feels like much longer than that, yet less at the same time. I guess working every night for 12 hours without a real break will do that. We pull in to port pretty regularly, but it's really only for a day or so, not long enough to make much of a difference. My sleeping schedule has been thrown for a complete loop, I don't even know what time of day it is normally, which is kind of fun sometimes. I find myself waking up during my off time thinking that somehow I've missed shift or rotation and nobody has woken me up (which would totally never happen, my ass would be dead if I missed work) and then I realize I'm still in my pajamas and that it's only 3 pm and I'm not late. That's always interesting.
So far I've had lots of fun adventures being on a ship for the first time, my favorite being that yesterday we had swim call and got to jump off and swim on the side of the ship. That was possibly one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life. I don't think there are many people in this world who can say they have swum off the coast of Somalia in the middle of the ocean. It was so much fun, a great decompressor for me after working non stop. Getting in the water and just chilling for a couple hours relaxed me a lot.
There isn't really much to talk about other than that, it's the same thing every day; get up, work, get off work, sleep, repeat. It's a simple life and I enjoy it, I get a lot of sun so my arms are officially a different race than the rest of my body and my sunglasses have tanned raccoon eyes on me. Such is life and I still have a long way to go on this mission.
I miss you all so much and I hope that these little tidbits give you some insight into my simple little life.
Sleepy greetings from your favorite MA,
Victoria
So far I've had lots of fun adventures being on a ship for the first time, my favorite being that yesterday we had swim call and got to jump off and swim on the side of the ship. That was possibly one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life. I don't think there are many people in this world who can say they have swum off the coast of Somalia in the middle of the ocean. It was so much fun, a great decompressor for me after working non stop. Getting in the water and just chilling for a couple hours relaxed me a lot.
There isn't really much to talk about other than that, it's the same thing every day; get up, work, get off work, sleep, repeat. It's a simple life and I enjoy it, I get a lot of sun so my arms are officially a different race than the rest of my body and my sunglasses have tanned raccoon eyes on me. Such is life and I still have a long way to go on this mission.
I miss you all so much and I hope that these little tidbits give you some insight into my simple little life.
Sleepy greetings from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Sunday, April 20, 2014
I'm living the Lion King
Woah! Somehow I've ended up in the lovely African heat on this Easter Sunday. Could I be any more lucky? Ahaha I'm kidding. This sucks. It's hotter than hell here and I left Bahrain a day earlier than I was planning to which means I didn't get to say goodbye to a lot of people and that really bothers me. My last night in Bahrain was not what I was expecting, it was both good and bad. Of course, because everyone in the military is basically the equivalent of a high school girl, there was some stupid drama that just HAD to go down in my last few hours. But once I left the scene of the drama, the night took a turn for the better, I had a really great evening with one of my best friends on the island. We had a couple really great talks and stayed up late just enjoying each others company. I'm definitely going to miss him a lot. Woke up this morning at OH MY GOD IT'S EARLY o'clock and left it all behind. The next few months are going to be interesting for sure. I have to get used to not seeing certain people every day, or being able to call them to come hug me when I'm having a bad day. And it's worse knowing that when I do come back to Bahrain, most likely they'll all be gone. I love the military more than anything, but I hate getting close to people and then having to say goodbye not too long after. Granted, with modern technology it's easier to stay in contact with people, but it's not the same as actually being able to see them face to face. But I've gotten through tougher things in my life and I know I can get through this. Who knows, maybe I'll see them further down the road in our careers. With a certain few people I really hope that happens.
Back to Africa. Oh. My. Gosh. I can not imagine being stationed here. It's hot, isolated, dirty and hot (yes I said it twice because it's not even really summer here and it's freaking hot out!). The best thing I've seen so far is the galley, the food there is remarkably good, but still. I would not want to be living here on a permanent basis. Right now they have us staying in tent barracks which do give the illusion of actually being deployed but are highly inconvenient for privacy or being on someones good side. People are always sleeping in there and they get mightily irritated if you flip the light on, but of course there are no windows so if the door is closed, it's pitch black so you HAVE to turn the light on so you don't trip and die. I think I actually got growled at earlier....
I'm excited to get going on mission and finally get some experience instead of just training. I don't know how often I'll be able to update or what I can share, but I'll do my best. All I can ask for is for everyone to bear with me on this crazy adventure that is my life.
Long distance love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Back to Africa. Oh. My. Gosh. I can not imagine being stationed here. It's hot, isolated, dirty and hot (yes I said it twice because it's not even really summer here and it's freaking hot out!). The best thing I've seen so far is the galley, the food there is remarkably good, but still. I would not want to be living here on a permanent basis. Right now they have us staying in tent barracks which do give the illusion of actually being deployed but are highly inconvenient for privacy or being on someones good side. People are always sleeping in there and they get mightily irritated if you flip the light on, but of course there are no windows so if the door is closed, it's pitch black so you HAVE to turn the light on so you don't trip and die. I think I actually got growled at earlier....
I'm excited to get going on mission and finally get some experience instead of just training. I don't know how often I'll be able to update or what I can share, but I'll do my best. All I can ask for is for everyone to bear with me on this crazy adventure that is my life.
Long distance love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Friday, April 11, 2014
I don't have a witty title for this
This is just kind of a general update, I've been beyond tired recently and honestly can't completely remember what all I've done since I last posted. Things have been up and down a lot here recently and that's been both good and bad. It's funny, I thought when I joined the military and started living on my own, that the people I work and live with would be a little more mature than the people I had to spend my adolescent years with. High school drama was the bane of my teenage existence yet it always seemed to be drawn to me. I was hoping that when I moved out here, people would be a bit more grown up. They're not. It is remarkable to me, the lack of maturity and common sense that people seem to have. People who have been in the military longer than me and have been here in Bahrain longer than me, that have the emotional and mental age of a middle schooler, it's completely ridiculous. Just from walking around and trying to hang out with different people and make friends, I get so damn frustrated that sometimes I have to go lay down and count to ten. Now, I know that I'm not everybody's favorite person, there isn't one person on this planet that is liked by everybody that they know. But generally speaking, I would say that I'm a pleasant person. And I really do try to give every one a chance to give a good first impression and to give them a chance to show me that it's worth it to me to spend time getting to know them and be friendly. It is so freaking hard sometimes though because (especially the NSF master at arms) are a bunch of catty little girls. Oh. My. God. When I'm getting told by them to NOT hang out with people from their command, you know there's a problem. Apparently, they are all out to get each other and I can't trust any of them...yea that makes me feel so comfortable...
I still try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but there are certain people that just rub me the wrong way. They're the people that walk into the room and my mood instantly drops, I can't help it, they just make me uncomfortable. Especially when I'm so protective of the few people that I have become friends with, I don't like when certain others show up. I won't outright be a bitch to them, but I'm not all cozy friendly with them. And it sucks because all I want is to go out and have fun with my friends on the weekend and I always end up irritated. But I can handle that, it helps that they're not actually in my command so I don't have to see them on a daily basis...that would be umm....unfortunate.
Okay so now that I got that little rant out of the way, on to the more pertinent news. I have officially been put on a team and can expect to deploy around the end of this month. I can't say exactly when, for how long or where we will go, but at some point in the near future I'm kinda gonna fall of the face of the planet for a little bit. Please don't be worried, we just don't have access to a lot on the internet on our ship. When I'm in port and can get wifi, I'll update the best I can, but obviously I don't know when or how often that will be. Just bear with me and know that whenever I can, I'll be in contact and give updates.
I'm a little sad, most likely by the time I get back to Bahrain, all of my friends in the Marine platoon here will be back in the states because their deployment will be over. I've gotten really close to these guys and they're my best friends on the island and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when they're gone. They've helped me get acclimated to life here, kept me company, given me laughs when I've had bad days and just been great friends in general. People ask me how I can be friends with grunts, and I just remind them that they're normal people like the rest of us. Just because they carry the title of Marine grunt doesn't make them any less intelligent or less of a person than anyone. In fact, I think that some of these guys are better than a lot of sailors I know. They look out for each other and anyone that they bring into their group, including dorky little me. They're great people and I'm going to be very sad to say goodbye to them.
**I don't want any crap from any of you Charlie 4 guys who might read this. I had a momentary girly phase but I can still take all you :P
I don't have much more to report, I'm just settling into the Navy routine and training hard as I can. I keep being reminded of how happy I am that I made this decision and that nothing will ever make me regret doing everything that I've done up to this point. I'm in the best possible place I could be.
Tomorrow I have to move rooms because they're renovating the barracks here. I hired a few of my buddies to help me. How did I convince them do you ask? I told them I would pay them in beer. I got a unanimous and instantaneous YES from them. It was quite comical actually. They haven't seen how much crap I actually have though. They're probably going to hate me. But I shall have beer, so all will be well.
Okay, that's all I have for you lovely folks who read this little nugget of randomness. Until next time!
Love always from your favorite MA,
Victoria
I still try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but there are certain people that just rub me the wrong way. They're the people that walk into the room and my mood instantly drops, I can't help it, they just make me uncomfortable. Especially when I'm so protective of the few people that I have become friends with, I don't like when certain others show up. I won't outright be a bitch to them, but I'm not all cozy friendly with them. And it sucks because all I want is to go out and have fun with my friends on the weekend and I always end up irritated. But I can handle that, it helps that they're not actually in my command so I don't have to see them on a daily basis...that would be umm....unfortunate.
Okay so now that I got that little rant out of the way, on to the more pertinent news. I have officially been put on a team and can expect to deploy around the end of this month. I can't say exactly when, for how long or where we will go, but at some point in the near future I'm kinda gonna fall of the face of the planet for a little bit. Please don't be worried, we just don't have access to a lot on the internet on our ship. When I'm in port and can get wifi, I'll update the best I can, but obviously I don't know when or how often that will be. Just bear with me and know that whenever I can, I'll be in contact and give updates.
I'm a little sad, most likely by the time I get back to Bahrain, all of my friends in the Marine platoon here will be back in the states because their deployment will be over. I've gotten really close to these guys and they're my best friends on the island and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when they're gone. They've helped me get acclimated to life here, kept me company, given me laughs when I've had bad days and just been great friends in general. People ask me how I can be friends with grunts, and I just remind them that they're normal people like the rest of us. Just because they carry the title of Marine grunt doesn't make them any less intelligent or less of a person than anyone. In fact, I think that some of these guys are better than a lot of sailors I know. They look out for each other and anyone that they bring into their group, including dorky little me. They're great people and I'm going to be very sad to say goodbye to them.
**I don't want any crap from any of you Charlie 4 guys who might read this. I had a momentary girly phase but I can still take all you :P
I don't have much more to report, I'm just settling into the Navy routine and training hard as I can. I keep being reminded of how happy I am that I made this decision and that nothing will ever make me regret doing everything that I've done up to this point. I'm in the best possible place I could be.
Tomorrow I have to move rooms because they're renovating the barracks here. I hired a few of my buddies to help me. How did I convince them do you ask? I told them I would pay them in beer. I got a unanimous and instantaneous YES from them. It was quite comical actually. They haven't seen how much crap I actually have though. They're probably going to hate me. But I shall have beer, so all will be well.
Okay, that's all I have for you lovely folks who read this little nugget of randomness. Until next time!
Love always from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Sunday, March 30, 2014
This is a public service announcement...
This is going to be a short post because I have to run and take care of some other stuff here on base, but I felt the need to put this out there just so everyone is clear:
Please, do not get butthurt if you send me one (or more) messages and I don't reply. I am not purposely ignoring you, it is not personal. Here on base, the wi-fi is spotty at best, so often I don't actually get any messages for a day or more. Also, sometimes my computer/phone don't register that I have messages for whatever reason, technology isn't perfect and not everything gets to me in a timely manner. If you send me something and it registers that I "read" it but didn't reply, I probably was rushing to clear out any notifications that did suddenly flood in and I didn't actually have time to formulate a response. This is a common occurence and has even happened to my own parents. I often clear out my unread messages and then completely forget to go back and actually read them for a few days (once even a week). Again, this is not personal against anyone, I am all over the place right now, trying to get settled in to my new home and balance work, spending time with my new friends here so we don't go insane and shutting everything out once in a while for some personal quiet time. My mind is a little scattered and I'm trying to make it focus on work more than anything else. I don't always have the time or the mental capacity to answer every message that I get, I do good to remember to talk to my parents and even then sometimes I just completely forget (sorry Mom and Dad, I love you guys :P). There is a lot of change going on in my life right now, and while I miss everyone dearly back home, I'm also trying to focus on what is going on immediately around me, if I don't do that then I will dwell too much on things that will bring me down and that's just not an option. So please, if you have sent me one or more messages, on any forum that I have, and I haven't answered, I'M NOT IGNORING YOU. I am simply human and forget things. Do not take it personally, do not get butthurt. Quite honestly, that is the quickest way to annoy me and will actually make me not want to answer because I do not deal with drama anymore. I don't have the time or patience for that.
Now, I will apologize for the harshness of that post. It was not directed at anyone in particular (going back to the whole "it's not personal" thing), just a general announcement over things that have been happening in the last month. Yes that was a very forward post, but I often find that beating around the bush gets me nowhere so I just kinda come out and say what I think. If this post in any way offended you....I don't know what to tell you. I simply stated my opinions as I have a right to do. Everyone knows that I love them dearly, even though I can sometimes be a little brusque. I do appreciate all the support that I get from everyone back home, more than you know. It keeps me going while I'm out here, so please don't think I'm taking your concerns and cares for granted. Like I've said before, lot's of changes are happening very quickly in my life and it's an adjustment for me and everyone, so please, take what I've said to heart. I'm not ignoring anyone, just trying to balance everything at once and nobody can actually do that do humor my airheadedness.
Lots of (sometimes tough) love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Please, do not get butthurt if you send me one (or more) messages and I don't reply. I am not purposely ignoring you, it is not personal. Here on base, the wi-fi is spotty at best, so often I don't actually get any messages for a day or more. Also, sometimes my computer/phone don't register that I have messages for whatever reason, technology isn't perfect and not everything gets to me in a timely manner. If you send me something and it registers that I "read" it but didn't reply, I probably was rushing to clear out any notifications that did suddenly flood in and I didn't actually have time to formulate a response. This is a common occurence and has even happened to my own parents. I often clear out my unread messages and then completely forget to go back and actually read them for a few days (once even a week). Again, this is not personal against anyone, I am all over the place right now, trying to get settled in to my new home and balance work, spending time with my new friends here so we don't go insane and shutting everything out once in a while for some personal quiet time. My mind is a little scattered and I'm trying to make it focus on work more than anything else. I don't always have the time or the mental capacity to answer every message that I get, I do good to remember to talk to my parents and even then sometimes I just completely forget (sorry Mom and Dad, I love you guys :P). There is a lot of change going on in my life right now, and while I miss everyone dearly back home, I'm also trying to focus on what is going on immediately around me, if I don't do that then I will dwell too much on things that will bring me down and that's just not an option. So please, if you have sent me one or more messages, on any forum that I have, and I haven't answered, I'M NOT IGNORING YOU. I am simply human and forget things. Do not take it personally, do not get butthurt. Quite honestly, that is the quickest way to annoy me and will actually make me not want to answer because I do not deal with drama anymore. I don't have the time or patience for that.
Now, I will apologize for the harshness of that post. It was not directed at anyone in particular (going back to the whole "it's not personal" thing), just a general announcement over things that have been happening in the last month. Yes that was a very forward post, but I often find that beating around the bush gets me nowhere so I just kinda come out and say what I think. If this post in any way offended you....I don't know what to tell you. I simply stated my opinions as I have a right to do. Everyone knows that I love them dearly, even though I can sometimes be a little brusque. I do appreciate all the support that I get from everyone back home, more than you know. It keeps me going while I'm out here, so please don't think I'm taking your concerns and cares for granted. Like I've said before, lot's of changes are happening very quickly in my life and it's an adjustment for me and everyone, so please, take what I've said to heart. I'm not ignoring anyone, just trying to balance everything at once and nobody can actually do that do humor my airheadedness.
Lots of (sometimes tough) love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Thursday, March 20, 2014
The Roman Empire
So I asked for suggestions about what to post about, seeing as with not much going on here, I was running out of stuff to say, and my wonderful mother gave me a suggestion:
The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.
I'll be quite honest...this completely confuses me. My guess is that it's a Monty Python reference which, if so, makes me ashamed to call myself an MP fan because I should know that. I'm not entirely sure how an empire that is supposed to be Roman isn't...if you say you're Roman then you probably are. As for holy, well I'm not about to discuss religion on a public website that technically any of my superiors at work could read. I do not want to open that can of worms at work *shudder* as for empire ummmm have you read about the Roman Empire? They were pretty much a bunch of badasses. The legions of warriors that they had were legendary in their strength and all that stuff. I wouldn't want to start a fight with the ancient Romans and I have modern day technology on my side.
I would love to travel back in time and see what it was like to live in the Ancient times, whether Greek or Roman. I love their history, culture, mythology and even their architecture. Plus the dresses that the women wore? Ugh I wish I could get away with wearing those now!
In other news, I've officially been here in sunny Bahrain for a month today. Wow has a lot happened in that month. I'm not recapping because that would take to long but suffice to say that there have been some incredibly good times and some completely terrible, drag me to the floor out of pure exhaustion and frustration times. I know I'm gonna get shit for saying this but, being an adult is hard! The Navy is like, "Okay! We're gonna give you two months of 24/7 supervised training followed for two months of almost the same thing and then BAM! You still have more schools but we're making you decide everything for yourself now when we've been doing it for you for four months." My thoughts? Oh thanks...I'm living outside of my house and country for the first time ever and you just expect me to know exactly what to do. Roger that. I know, I know, I shouldn't complain, I've got it pretty good, but sometimes it's just so frustrating I wanna scream. But I am lucky, my command is amazing and supportive and even though I'm a newbie here, they've welcomed me with open arms into the CRG-2 family. I had some personal problems go down last night (nope, not going into it, everything's okay I promise just stupid high school type drama :P) and it was affecting the way that I was acting this morning at work. Two of my petty officers pulled me to the side and sat me down to have a private talk and let me know that whatever was going on, they were here for me if I needed help. To have two seasoned sailors like that, who barely know me tell me that they would take care of me if I was having problems was very touching . It makes me feel even better with my choice of duty stations. I could have gotten so many places and I got this one.
Okay, that's all I have for tonight. I'm pretty tired so I'm going to get in comfy clothes and watch a movie and cuddle with my minion who usually lives in my window. I miss everyone back home and I can't wait to visit and then come home in 23 months.
Sleepy love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.
I'll be quite honest...this completely confuses me. My guess is that it's a Monty Python reference which, if so, makes me ashamed to call myself an MP fan because I should know that. I'm not entirely sure how an empire that is supposed to be Roman isn't...if you say you're Roman then you probably are. As for holy, well I'm not about to discuss religion on a public website that technically any of my superiors at work could read. I do not want to open that can of worms at work *shudder* as for empire ummmm have you read about the Roman Empire? They were pretty much a bunch of badasses. The legions of warriors that they had were legendary in their strength and all that stuff. I wouldn't want to start a fight with the ancient Romans and I have modern day technology on my side.
I would love to travel back in time and see what it was like to live in the Ancient times, whether Greek or Roman. I love their history, culture, mythology and even their architecture. Plus the dresses that the women wore? Ugh I wish I could get away with wearing those now!
In other news, I've officially been here in sunny Bahrain for a month today. Wow has a lot happened in that month. I'm not recapping because that would take to long but suffice to say that there have been some incredibly good times and some completely terrible, drag me to the floor out of pure exhaustion and frustration times. I know I'm gonna get shit for saying this but, being an adult is hard! The Navy is like, "Okay! We're gonna give you two months of 24/7 supervised training followed for two months of almost the same thing and then BAM! You still have more schools but we're making you decide everything for yourself now when we've been doing it for you for four months." My thoughts? Oh thanks...I'm living outside of my house and country for the first time ever and you just expect me to know exactly what to do. Roger that. I know, I know, I shouldn't complain, I've got it pretty good, but sometimes it's just so frustrating I wanna scream. But I am lucky, my command is amazing and supportive and even though I'm a newbie here, they've welcomed me with open arms into the CRG-2 family. I had some personal problems go down last night (nope, not going into it, everything's okay I promise just stupid high school type drama :P) and it was affecting the way that I was acting this morning at work. Two of my petty officers pulled me to the side and sat me down to have a private talk and let me know that whatever was going on, they were here for me if I needed help. To have two seasoned sailors like that, who barely know me tell me that they would take care of me if I was having problems was very touching . It makes me feel even better with my choice of duty stations. I could have gotten so many places and I got this one.
Okay, that's all I have for tonight. I'm pretty tired so I'm going to get in comfy clothes and watch a movie and cuddle with my minion who usually lives in my window. I miss everyone back home and I can't wait to visit and then come home in 23 months.
Sleepy love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Work, shenanigans and running laps
Finally actually started training this week! I actually feel like I'm going to work in the mornings now. Well, for the most part. Today was kind of dull, we just sat and studied aaaaalllllll day. Woo. Hopefully tomorrow we get back into things. Not much to report, I stayed on base this past weekend because all my Marine buddies were on no liberty. Hopefully they get it this weekend and we can go hit up downtown Jafair.
Trying to think of something fun to post, not just the usual "This is what I did this week, I wish I was doing more blah blah blah." I'm having a hard time picking what to do...I have all these great idea throughout the day and then as soon as I pull this little booger up, I go completely blank.
I'm trying to get into better shape. I'm going to be heaving massively heavy loads of gear around ships for a living, I kinda need to be in shape for that. I'm getting more muscle and strength just from wearing my vest and gear because those things alone weigh like 60 pounds and holding my tiny little body up for extended periods of time with that naturally puts some bulk on.That's nice. I'm also gonna start running with my Marine buddy Manny. He's a beast in running so I figured he's be good motivation for me haha he nearly killed me on just one lap today...
So the other night, me, Galloway, Manny and Rizzy had movie night. Holy goodness that was a fun night, we all holed up in my room with junk food and watched a couple movies interjected with a nerf gun battle of epically tactical proportions. When you give four security forces military people nerf guns, shit gets real. We were probably so stupid looking, but I didn't care. We had a blast.
Bahrain continues to make me happy. Besides a few tiny things that really don't matter at all, I have zero complaints about this place. I heard before I left (from other military members that I know that won't be named) that once I hit the fleet and realized what it was like, I was not going to like it at all. Well I'm squashing those rumors now. I LOVE IT. Being in the fleet is awesome, I'm meeting so many people who have a wealth of knowledge and all I do is ask them questions so that maybe one day I can be in their position teaching other young seamen. There are obviously those few people that I stay away from because they're either kind of shady or they don't wanna be bothered by the newbie, but the ones that let me ask questions and actually help me learn when I need help and push me where I need to be pushed, they're awesome. I'm in a great command with great people and great friends. I could not be happier with my choice of branch, rate and duty station. I'm literally rarely in a bad mood right now, it's great.
I got my first care package from my family today! My momma sent me a box of goodies and things I left at home and it made me smile like a little kid no lie. Care packages are the best way to keep a deployed sailors spirits up and they're even better when they come with stuff that we can share with each other. Thank you so much Momma for my box :)
I still haven't gotten assigned to a team here but they told me it should be happening in the next couple weeks hopefully. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it's a team with people I can get along with and not people who make me want to pull my hair out. I'll keep my head up no matter what and do my job to the best of my abilities. I have my first qualification test this Sunday and I'm pretty confident that I'll pass it. Armorer is one of my stronger areas. We'll see how it goes if they let us actually put hands on the weapons this week. That would be greeeeaaaaat.
Well, I'm gonna go try and get some sleep before work tomorrow. The week is almost done already I can't believe it! Hugs and butterfly kisses from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Trying to think of something fun to post, not just the usual "This is what I did this week, I wish I was doing more blah blah blah." I'm having a hard time picking what to do...I have all these great idea throughout the day and then as soon as I pull this little booger up, I go completely blank.
I'm trying to get into better shape. I'm going to be heaving massively heavy loads of gear around ships for a living, I kinda need to be in shape for that. I'm getting more muscle and strength just from wearing my vest and gear because those things alone weigh like 60 pounds and holding my tiny little body up for extended periods of time with that naturally puts some bulk on.That's nice. I'm also gonna start running with my Marine buddy Manny. He's a beast in running so I figured he's be good motivation for me haha he nearly killed me on just one lap today...
So the other night, me, Galloway, Manny and Rizzy had movie night. Holy goodness that was a fun night, we all holed up in my room with junk food and watched a couple movies interjected with a nerf gun battle of epically tactical proportions. When you give four security forces military people nerf guns, shit gets real. We were probably so stupid looking, but I didn't care. We had a blast.
Bahrain continues to make me happy. Besides a few tiny things that really don't matter at all, I have zero complaints about this place. I heard before I left (from other military members that I know that won't be named) that once I hit the fleet and realized what it was like, I was not going to like it at all. Well I'm squashing those rumors now. I LOVE IT. Being in the fleet is awesome, I'm meeting so many people who have a wealth of knowledge and all I do is ask them questions so that maybe one day I can be in their position teaching other young seamen. There are obviously those few people that I stay away from because they're either kind of shady or they don't wanna be bothered by the newbie, but the ones that let me ask questions and actually help me learn when I need help and push me where I need to be pushed, they're awesome. I'm in a great command with great people and great friends. I could not be happier with my choice of branch, rate and duty station. I'm literally rarely in a bad mood right now, it's great.
I got my first care package from my family today! My momma sent me a box of goodies and things I left at home and it made me smile like a little kid no lie. Care packages are the best way to keep a deployed sailors spirits up and they're even better when they come with stuff that we can share with each other. Thank you so much Momma for my box :)
I still haven't gotten assigned to a team here but they told me it should be happening in the next couple weeks hopefully. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it's a team with people I can get along with and not people who make me want to pull my hair out. I'll keep my head up no matter what and do my job to the best of my abilities. I have my first qualification test this Sunday and I'm pretty confident that I'll pass it. Armorer is one of my stronger areas. We'll see how it goes if they let us actually put hands on the weapons this week. That would be greeeeaaaaat.
Well, I'm gonna go try and get some sleep before work tomorrow. The week is almost done already I can't believe it! Hugs and butterfly kisses from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Can I get a hooyah?
Time is seriously already flying here. I feel like I just got here yesterday but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever. I'm getting settled in, making new friends, starting my training at my command and just making this place my home in general.
I just realized that it's been over a week since I updated this little thing. I guess I really do lose track of time. When I'm not at work (whether I'm actually working or not) I'm either working out, trying to find ways to keep myself busy with my friends, or passed out in my bed. I really don't give myself much downtime because I know that if I do, then I'll have time to feel homesick. Not that I don't miss home, I do, but I don't have the time or energy to be sitting around moping that I'm not stationed within driving distance of my family. So I keep myself busy until I fall asleep out of pure exhaustion. It's a crazy lifestyle, but it works well for me. The past week or so has been just training and getting integrated into my command. Unofrtunately with some of the stuff going on in my command, I haven't had as much time to start training as I want. It's been a lot of sitting around in a classroom because we don't have access to the training equipment. Oh well, welcome to the Navy.
This week I got my vaccinations. They sucked. :( I had to get Typhoid, Anthrax, Hepatitis B, the flu (omg I'm so pissed they MAKE us get this shot, I think it's thoroughly pointless and I hate that I'm being made to get it) and Smallpox. They all suck. I hate shots. With the fiery burning passion of ten thousand suns. I walked in to get my smallpox shot today (oh btw that's not just one shot, it's 15 effing sticks with a piece of metal into your arm with the freaking virus on it and it turns into a nasty pus filled blister in a week. Who thought THAT was a good idea???) and they were like "Hey! You get your flu shot today too!" I turned so white that they asked if I needed to sit down. Yea, I really hate shots. Sit me in a tattoo chair for four hours and I'm fine, present a tiny metal needle with either drugs or germs in it and I'm going to pass out. They scare me shitless. But I got it and now I'm just pouting that I've been stuck five times this week. Oh well.
So this week is officially halfway over, the days ehre go on and on forever but the weeks fly by. I've really started to get setlled in, I'm making friends in other commands and branches and just thoroughly enjoying the fact that I'm able to be out here and completely enjoy myself with no strings attached or anything. It's a fun lifestyle and a great place to be stationed overall.
Things are heating up here and by that I mean the temperatures. It's been consistently in the high 80's low 90's recently and tomorrow's forecast says the high is 102. Oh joy. The upside is that my command has authorized us to roll our sleeves up so I don't have to have those stifling sleeves down all the time making me sweat buckets and get heat stroke. Now I'm just going to have a fantastic farmers tan. Navy probs.
I really don't have tha tmuch more to report, things are quiet around here, we just go about our lives and try to have fun on the weekends. That has been fun, every weekend I've been here, I've gone out dancing with various groups of friends. Dancing makes me feel so alive and when I'm doing it with people I have fun with, it's just that much better. Sailors, Marines, soldiers, I don't care who you are, if you wanna have fun and dance, let's go.
I guess it's pretty evident that I love Bahrain. I really do. I'm going to enjoy my two years out here and have the most fun I can have. I'm in the best place I could be in my life, emotionally, physically and mentally. Nothing can bring me down right now and *knock on wood* nothing will.
Okay, I'll try to write again soon my faithful readers, until then, cuddles from your favorite MA,
Victoria
I just realized that it's been over a week since I updated this little thing. I guess I really do lose track of time. When I'm not at work (whether I'm actually working or not) I'm either working out, trying to find ways to keep myself busy with my friends, or passed out in my bed. I really don't give myself much downtime because I know that if I do, then I'll have time to feel homesick. Not that I don't miss home, I do, but I don't have the time or energy to be sitting around moping that I'm not stationed within driving distance of my family. So I keep myself busy until I fall asleep out of pure exhaustion. It's a crazy lifestyle, but it works well for me. The past week or so has been just training and getting integrated into my command. Unofrtunately with some of the stuff going on in my command, I haven't had as much time to start training as I want. It's been a lot of sitting around in a classroom because we don't have access to the training equipment. Oh well, welcome to the Navy.
This week I got my vaccinations. They sucked. :( I had to get Typhoid, Anthrax, Hepatitis B, the flu (omg I'm so pissed they MAKE us get this shot, I think it's thoroughly pointless and I hate that I'm being made to get it) and Smallpox. They all suck. I hate shots. With the fiery burning passion of ten thousand suns. I walked in to get my smallpox shot today (oh btw that's not just one shot, it's 15 effing sticks with a piece of metal into your arm with the freaking virus on it and it turns into a nasty pus filled blister in a week. Who thought THAT was a good idea???) and they were like "Hey! You get your flu shot today too!" I turned so white that they asked if I needed to sit down. Yea, I really hate shots. Sit me in a tattoo chair for four hours and I'm fine, present a tiny metal needle with either drugs or germs in it and I'm going to pass out. They scare me shitless. But I got it and now I'm just pouting that I've been stuck five times this week. Oh well.
So this week is officially halfway over, the days ehre go on and on forever but the weeks fly by. I've really started to get setlled in, I'm making friends in other commands and branches and just thoroughly enjoying the fact that I'm able to be out here and completely enjoy myself with no strings attached or anything. It's a fun lifestyle and a great place to be stationed overall.
Things are heating up here and by that I mean the temperatures. It's been consistently in the high 80's low 90's recently and tomorrow's forecast says the high is 102. Oh joy. The upside is that my command has authorized us to roll our sleeves up so I don't have to have those stifling sleeves down all the time making me sweat buckets and get heat stroke. Now I'm just going to have a fantastic farmers tan. Navy probs.
I really don't have tha tmuch more to report, things are quiet around here, we just go about our lives and try to have fun on the weekends. That has been fun, every weekend I've been here, I've gone out dancing with various groups of friends. Dancing makes me feel so alive and when I'm doing it with people I have fun with, it's just that much better. Sailors, Marines, soldiers, I don't care who you are, if you wanna have fun and dance, let's go.
I guess it's pretty evident that I love Bahrain. I really do. I'm going to enjoy my two years out here and have the most fun I can have. I'm in the best place I could be in my life, emotionally, physically and mentally. Nothing can bring me down right now and *knock on wood* nothing will.
Okay, I'll try to write again soon my faithful readers, until then, cuddles from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Insert post title here
Life just makes me sit here and scratch my head in confusement sometimes. Like, in person, when I'm talking to someone, generally speaking, I'm funny. I have a good balance of sarcasm and witty come backs and have a good variety of things to talk about. Then I hit the internet and social media and it's like I turn into the most awkward rock in the world. I can not think of funny or interesting things to say for the life of me. So, because of this unfortunate dilemna, today you all get a wonderful assortment of my stupid corny jokes. Prepare yourselves for the cheesiness:
What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No eyed-deer (say it out loud)
What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?
STILL no eyed-deer (say that one out loud too)
What do you call a cow with no legs?
Ground beef
What do you call a dog with no legs?
Doesn't matter, he won't come when you call him.
Why does nobody like to play with lobsters?
Because they're shellfish
What's green, leafy and has wheels?
Grass, I lied about the wheels
What's brown and sticky?
A stick
What's blue and smells like red paint?
Blue paint
How do you catch a unique rabbit?
You neak up on him (say that out loud too)
(My personal favorite) How many tickles does it take to make a squi laugh?
.
.
.
Ten tickles
Okay that's all I'm going to subject you to today. Hopefully soon, I'll actually have something of substance to blog about. Until then, enjoy the slight chuckle you might get from reading these silly little puns and know that I'm thinking of all of you lovely people back home.
Hugs and cuddles from your favorite MA,
Victoria
What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No eyed-deer (say it out loud)
What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?
STILL no eyed-deer (say that one out loud too)
What do you call a cow with no legs?
Ground beef
What do you call a dog with no legs?
Doesn't matter, he won't come when you call him.
Why does nobody like to play with lobsters?
Because they're shellfish
What's green, leafy and has wheels?
Grass, I lied about the wheels
What's brown and sticky?
A stick
What's blue and smells like red paint?
Blue paint
How do you catch a unique rabbit?
You neak up on him (say that out loud too)
(My personal favorite) How many tickles does it take to make a squi laugh?
.
.
.
Ten tickles
Okay that's all I'm going to subject you to today. Hopefully soon, I'll actually have something of substance to blog about. Until then, enjoy the slight chuckle you might get from reading these silly little puns and know that I'm thinking of all of you lovely people back home.
Hugs and cuddles from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
One week down, 103 left to go
Holy crap. Today marks one week that I've been here in Bahrain. It doesn't even feel like it's been seven whole days. I honestly feel like I've already been here for a month. Wow.
This past week was filled with indoc and paperwork. So basically I sat in a giant roomn with 200 other people that I don't know and learned about the do's and don'ts of Bahrain and our base. Death by PowerPoint ladies and gents. I guess it wasn't all bad, but I do not enjoy sitting on my ass all day long when I should be training and getting ready for mission. But protocol is protocol and I just keep my mouth shut and smile when they tell me to go somewhere. Base indoc is finally over though which means Sunday I will start command indoc! *insert slight sarcastic cheering here*
Today I had my first pt session with the command. I'm really out of shape...I'm ashamed. It wasn't too bad though and I managed to make everyone think I wasn't really dying inside. I gotta start working out more though. Me and my girl Galloway are gonna start working out together which means the inevitable runs that I know I need to do, but I absolutely hate. I loathe running. With the fiery burning passion of a thousand suns. But I know I need to do it, so I'm gonna start making myself. I'm going to workout at least once every day, whether it's the gym or a run or command pt. I wanna come back home in the best shape of my life and also be able to keep up with the guys in my command. I really do love working out, it's just getting the motivation to actually make myself go to the gym and work out. I'm slightly lazy and I reeeeeaaaaally love my bed. It's an addiction that I'm trying to overcome...it's not going well.
In other news, the USS Truman made port this week which means that there is a base party every night which is really cool because every body comes out and drinks and dances and has a great time together and evern though we're all different rates and branches, at these parties, nobody is different. It's all about having fun and making amazing memories. I've gone dancing for two nights straight now and I'm going back again tonight. I miss dancing so much and nobody out here cares if you can dance well or not, it's all about being crazy and wild. Love it.
I'm really enjoying being out here. I think it's going to be a great experience for me and I'm going to go home with so many stories and memories and hopefully some friendships that will last forever. I have "Command Fun Day" coming up in about an hour and a half so I'm going to go eat my breakfast now. I miss you guys back home and I love you all so much.
Tired smiles from your favorite MA
Victoria
This past week was filled with indoc and paperwork. So basically I sat in a giant roomn with 200 other people that I don't know and learned about the do's and don'ts of Bahrain and our base. Death by PowerPoint ladies and gents. I guess it wasn't all bad, but I do not enjoy sitting on my ass all day long when I should be training and getting ready for mission. But protocol is protocol and I just keep my mouth shut and smile when they tell me to go somewhere. Base indoc is finally over though which means Sunday I will start command indoc! *insert slight sarcastic cheering here*
Today I had my first pt session with the command. I'm really out of shape...I'm ashamed. It wasn't too bad though and I managed to make everyone think I wasn't really dying inside. I gotta start working out more though. Me and my girl Galloway are gonna start working out together which means the inevitable runs that I know I need to do, but I absolutely hate. I loathe running. With the fiery burning passion of a thousand suns. But I know I need to do it, so I'm gonna start making myself. I'm going to workout at least once every day, whether it's the gym or a run or command pt. I wanna come back home in the best shape of my life and also be able to keep up with the guys in my command. I really do love working out, it's just getting the motivation to actually make myself go to the gym and work out. I'm slightly lazy and I reeeeeaaaaally love my bed. It's an addiction that I'm trying to overcome...it's not going well.
In other news, the USS Truman made port this week which means that there is a base party every night which is really cool because every body comes out and drinks and dances and has a great time together and evern though we're all different rates and branches, at these parties, nobody is different. It's all about having fun and making amazing memories. I've gone dancing for two nights straight now and I'm going back again tonight. I miss dancing so much and nobody out here cares if you can dance well or not, it's all about being crazy and wild. Love it.
I'm really enjoying being out here. I think it's going to be a great experience for me and I'm going to go home with so many stories and memories and hopefully some friendships that will last forever. I have "Command Fun Day" coming up in about an hour and a half so I'm going to go eat my breakfast now. I miss you guys back home and I love you all so much.
Tired smiles from your favorite MA
Victoria
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Let's get things started...
This is my first post from my new home!!! I'm finally in the actual fleet here in the Kingdom of Bahrain. I've gone a long way from the small town girl from Georgia to where I am now. I'm so excited to get out on a team and on mission. And my new home is absolutely beautiful. Bahrain right now is so warm and breezy, it's literally perfect. However, it's about to become hotter than Hades here once summer hits. And humid. Very humid. So me with my wonderfully curly hair, I'm going to legitimately look like an effing lion. Hooyah. But I still couldn't be happier with my choice of duty stations. Sure, it's far away from my family, friends and other people I care about, but I'm going to experience SO MUCH while I'm out here. I'm living in an entirely new culture, learning new ways to show respect and how to act around certain people, what not to do, I have to learn all of it.
So enough of that, what have I done since I got here? Well, Thursday, when my 22 hour flight FINALLY landed here, I got off, met my sponsor type people and after a TERRIFYING trip through Bahraini traffic (let me tell you, I'm from Atlanta...this shit scared me. That's saying something...) we made it onto base and got all checked in and up to our rooms. Went to meet the rest of the CRG-2 commands and introduce ourselves (I was instantly popular when I told everyone I was from Georgia, Go Dawgs), and then finally had the chance to relax. I unpacked, showered (I was kinda gross from the flight and heat), changed and promptly collapsed onto my bed. After keeping myself awake until 2200 (that's 10 p.m. for you civilians) I passed out...and woke up at 0500. FML. Now, a quick note, here the weekends are kinda jacked up. Instead of Friday-Sunday, we have Thursday-Saturday for our weekend liberty. So Friday, my buddy who has been here for a little while, got a bunch of us noobs together and we explored the base and the infamous American Alley. It was a lot of fun and it was cool to see the combination of so many cultures smooshed into three blocks of street. By the way, did I mention traffic is terrible? Yea we were WALKING and still almost managed to die like five times. There are no "parking places" in Bahrain, you just kinda park wherever you find a space, sometimes that means in the street itself. Yikes. After a day of fun and adventure, I went back to my room and passed out, from about 0100 on Saturay to 0500 on Sunday, I was sleeping off and on. I left my room once. It was GLORIOUS. Also, I have a roommate, except I don't know who she is. Literally I haven't seen this girl since I got here. Her stuff is all sitting here, but she has yet to show up...I'm hoping she's just deployed and not like, dead somewhere...that would be awkward. Hopefully she's nice too. If I'm stuck with someone detestable for two years...it's gonna get ugly.
So today, I got up at 0500, got ready for work and Skyped my family who were not even in bed yet. Yea that's really weird (there's an eight hour time difference from here to home, I'm eight hours ahead) and then headed off to indoc. That's basically a nice way of saying, "We're gonna make you sit in a giant room with 200 people you don't know and put you through Hell in PowerPoint for eight hours." Hooyah. Finally, after all that delightfulness, I am now sitting on my little barracks bed enjoying my AC and solitude.
Right now, things are slow with all my indoc process and stuff like that, but once I really start going out and getting more freedom and being used to being in the big fleet, I will have all sorts of exciting things to chronicle on this little bloglet of mine. I know not many people if any will read this, but if you do, know that everything I do, everything I put myself through out here, is for you back home in America. I would give my life without hesitation to protect you, your family and your freedom. Sometimes my life sucks, but then I think about how this is all so much bigger than me or anyone out here. We don't do this for ourselves, we do it for those back home who can't.
There's a quote from the move A Few Good Men; Sam and Jo are arguing after losing an argument during the court marshall:
Jo: Why do you like them so much?
Sam: They beat up on a weakling; that's all they did. The rest is just smokefilled coffee-house crap. They tortured and tormented a weaker kid. They didn't like him. So, they killed him. And why? Because he couldn't run very fast.
Sam: Why do you like them so much?
Jo: Because they stand on a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch."
That quote is so powerful and it's one of the things I live by. I'm going to stand on a wall and make sure that nothing will hurt anyone. Not on my watch. You're all my family whether you know it or not and I will go to the ends of the earth to provide freedom and happiness for you.
Endless love from your favorite MA
Hardy
So enough of that, what have I done since I got here? Well, Thursday, when my 22 hour flight FINALLY landed here, I got off, met my sponsor type people and after a TERRIFYING trip through Bahraini traffic (let me tell you, I'm from Atlanta...this shit scared me. That's saying something...) we made it onto base and got all checked in and up to our rooms. Went to meet the rest of the CRG-2 commands and introduce ourselves (I was instantly popular when I told everyone I was from Georgia, Go Dawgs), and then finally had the chance to relax. I unpacked, showered (I was kinda gross from the flight and heat), changed and promptly collapsed onto my bed. After keeping myself awake until 2200 (that's 10 p.m. for you civilians) I passed out...and woke up at 0500. FML. Now, a quick note, here the weekends are kinda jacked up. Instead of Friday-Sunday, we have Thursday-Saturday for our weekend liberty. So Friday, my buddy who has been here for a little while, got a bunch of us noobs together and we explored the base and the infamous American Alley. It was a lot of fun and it was cool to see the combination of so many cultures smooshed into three blocks of street. By the way, did I mention traffic is terrible? Yea we were WALKING and still almost managed to die like five times. There are no "parking places" in Bahrain, you just kinda park wherever you find a space, sometimes that means in the street itself. Yikes. After a day of fun and adventure, I went back to my room and passed out, from about 0100 on Saturay to 0500 on Sunday, I was sleeping off and on. I left my room once. It was GLORIOUS. Also, I have a roommate, except I don't know who she is. Literally I haven't seen this girl since I got here. Her stuff is all sitting here, but she has yet to show up...I'm hoping she's just deployed and not like, dead somewhere...that would be awkward. Hopefully she's nice too. If I'm stuck with someone detestable for two years...it's gonna get ugly.
So today, I got up at 0500, got ready for work and Skyped my family who were not even in bed yet. Yea that's really weird (there's an eight hour time difference from here to home, I'm eight hours ahead) and then headed off to indoc. That's basically a nice way of saying, "We're gonna make you sit in a giant room with 200 people you don't know and put you through Hell in PowerPoint for eight hours." Hooyah. Finally, after all that delightfulness, I am now sitting on my little barracks bed enjoying my AC and solitude.
Right now, things are slow with all my indoc process and stuff like that, but once I really start going out and getting more freedom and being used to being in the big fleet, I will have all sorts of exciting things to chronicle on this little bloglet of mine. I know not many people if any will read this, but if you do, know that everything I do, everything I put myself through out here, is for you back home in America. I would give my life without hesitation to protect you, your family and your freedom. Sometimes my life sucks, but then I think about how this is all so much bigger than me or anyone out here. We don't do this for ourselves, we do it for those back home who can't.
There's a quote from the move A Few Good Men; Sam and Jo are arguing after losing an argument during the court marshall:
Jo: Why do you like them so much?
Sam: They beat up on a weakling; that's all they did. The rest is just smokefilled coffee-house crap. They tortured and tormented a weaker kid. They didn't like him. So, they killed him. And why? Because he couldn't run very fast.
Sam: Why do you like them so much?
Jo: Because they stand on a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch."
That quote is so powerful and it's one of the things I live by. I'm going to stand on a wall and make sure that nothing will hurt anyone. Not on my watch. You're all my family whether you know it or not and I will go to the ends of the earth to provide freedom and happiness for you.
Endless love from your favorite MA
Hardy
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Well the weather outside is frightful...
Oh no...just no. It started snowing here in Virginia...please no. We already have a class start delay until 1000 tomorrow morning and if they decide to cancel class all together then that means that we have to go in to the school house on Saturday which would mean I would lose my extra sleep that I normally get on the weekend. This does not make a happy sailor. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing snow, it's beautiful and I could get some pretty cool pictures here, but I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO CLASS ON SATURDAY!!!! Like I can't even stress that enough. Saturdays are the day that I give myself off to sleep in, lay in bed all day, not do anything at all really. Don't take that away from me. If I have to get snowed in, can it wait until the weekend when I can curl up in my room with a movie and maybe some friends to shun the cold weather? That seems like it might be too much to ask.
In other news, only 10 more days of class left before I graduate ESCS and go on leave before I deploy. That means only 24 more days before I'm getting ready to fly 18 hours to NSA Bahrain. That, my friends, is a daunting number. When I first picked my orders, I was like "Hey this is gonna be fun! I got plenty of time before I leave!" it really felt like I had forever before I left, with two extra schools and all. But no. Here I am with less than a month before I'm thousands of miles away from everyone that I care about. There's like, no time left and I'm panicking just a little bit. I don't wanna make a big deal about it, but I'm actually pretty nervous about this. I just have to keep my head up and remember that while it will be a huge culture shock, it's probably going to be one of the most fun times in my life. I'm going to meet and work with so many new and exciting people and I'm going to learn what it really means to serve my country. I wouldn't trade my life right now and in the immediate future for anything. And that's the way it should be.
I'm so excited to get going on my adventure to the Middle East and I can't wait to chronicle it for you guys (whoever you are). Now, it's almost midnight and I might have class tomorrow so I'm going to try and get all warm and snuggly in my very big bed and catch a few z's before I jump back in to it tomorrow.
Snuggles from your favorite MA,
Victoria
In other news, only 10 more days of class left before I graduate ESCS and go on leave before I deploy. That means only 24 more days before I'm getting ready to fly 18 hours to NSA Bahrain. That, my friends, is a daunting number. When I first picked my orders, I was like "Hey this is gonna be fun! I got plenty of time before I leave!" it really felt like I had forever before I left, with two extra schools and all. But no. Here I am with less than a month before I'm thousands of miles away from everyone that I care about. There's like, no time left and I'm panicking just a little bit. I don't wanna make a big deal about it, but I'm actually pretty nervous about this. I just have to keep my head up and remember that while it will be a huge culture shock, it's probably going to be one of the most fun times in my life. I'm going to meet and work with so many new and exciting people and I'm going to learn what it really means to serve my country. I wouldn't trade my life right now and in the immediate future for anything. And that's the way it should be.
I'm so excited to get going on my adventure to the Middle East and I can't wait to chronicle it for you guys (whoever you are). Now, it's almost midnight and I might have class tomorrow so I'm going to try and get all warm and snuggly in my very big bed and catch a few z's before I jump back in to it tomorrow.
Snuggles from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Let's be honest here
Okay, so I'm gonna go off on a little tangent here but before I do that, I want to make sure that nobody misundertands what I'm about to say. I am not hating on any aspect of myself, I am being honest about who I am and how I am. So nobody go off on me about anything like that mkay? :) Continuing...
I have come to the realization that I am probably the most average person on the planet. Like really. I am not really bad or really good at one thing. I am average height and an average weight for that height, I am not terribly unattractive but I'm not gorgeous either. Again, I'm not hating on myself or my appearance, but I'm really not the prettiest or ugliest girl in the world. There are plenty of women out there who are waaay more attractive than I will ever be. And I'm okay with that haha
Then there's the smarts, I am pretty intelligent in both school type things and also in real world smarts, but I'm still kinda air headed about a lot of things. Not stupid, but not the best by any standards. That goes for all my other Navy stuff too, I was never the best at boot camp, A School, ECS and I'm guessing it'll be that way here in Virginia and Bahrain too. But I'm not bad at what I do, I pay attention, learn and can effectively use all the knowledge that I am given.
Compared to my family, it doesn't seem like I could really be related to them. My mom is the...well mom. She does all the housewifey and mom type things perfectly and also balances being in charge of the gymnastics program where she works. She's also musically gifted. My dad is the one who knows everything, he researches and finds out what needs to be known. He's also really freaking good at what he does as a technical manager at his job. He's my go to guy, my rock. My little brother is incredibly intelliegent and a whiz on everything technical. He can literally look at a piece of sound or lighting equipment or a computer and within like 30 minutes, know it inside and out and how to make it work effectively. He's the one that the whole family goes to for technical support and advice. He's going to work for Disney one day and go far in the world. As long as he can fix his attitude of course. My sister is the arts one. She is a ballerina (and an amazing one at that), she loves to draw and write and paint and go anything involving fashion. She is definitely the girly girl and the pretty one in the family. If you put the two of us next to each other, you would never know that we are related, the diference is that big.
Then we have me. I'm short but fairly skinny, I have curly hair that looks like a poof because it's too short right now. I have a goofy smile, but it's genuine at least. I'm the tomboy of the family, I like sports (especially football), guns and don't mind getting my hands dirty. I can keep up with the boys, take it and dish it right back out. I love being in the military, and picked the toughest job that I could in one of the toughest areas of the world. I cuss, I yell and I don't act like a lady and somehow that's attractive to guys. Yea I don't get that one, but that's not the point haha. I'm the one that everyone expected to be one thing and I decided to prove them all wrong.
I love the way that I am, and I love my family, but sometimes it's weird to see how amazing they are and how completely average I am. Oh well. Just some random observations from a bored little sailor. Hopefully next time I post, it'll be a little more interesting.
Love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
I have come to the realization that I am probably the most average person on the planet. Like really. I am not really bad or really good at one thing. I am average height and an average weight for that height, I am not terribly unattractive but I'm not gorgeous either. Again, I'm not hating on myself or my appearance, but I'm really not the prettiest or ugliest girl in the world. There are plenty of women out there who are waaay more attractive than I will ever be. And I'm okay with that haha
Then there's the smarts, I am pretty intelligent in both school type things and also in real world smarts, but I'm still kinda air headed about a lot of things. Not stupid, but not the best by any standards. That goes for all my other Navy stuff too, I was never the best at boot camp, A School, ECS and I'm guessing it'll be that way here in Virginia and Bahrain too. But I'm not bad at what I do, I pay attention, learn and can effectively use all the knowledge that I am given.
Compared to my family, it doesn't seem like I could really be related to them. My mom is the...well mom. She does all the housewifey and mom type things perfectly and also balances being in charge of the gymnastics program where she works. She's also musically gifted. My dad is the one who knows everything, he researches and finds out what needs to be known. He's also really freaking good at what he does as a technical manager at his job. He's my go to guy, my rock. My little brother is incredibly intelliegent and a whiz on everything technical. He can literally look at a piece of sound or lighting equipment or a computer and within like 30 minutes, know it inside and out and how to make it work effectively. He's the one that the whole family goes to for technical support and advice. He's going to work for Disney one day and go far in the world. As long as he can fix his attitude of course. My sister is the arts one. She is a ballerina (and an amazing one at that), she loves to draw and write and paint and go anything involving fashion. She is definitely the girly girl and the pretty one in the family. If you put the two of us next to each other, you would never know that we are related, the diference is that big.
Then we have me. I'm short but fairly skinny, I have curly hair that looks like a poof because it's too short right now. I have a goofy smile, but it's genuine at least. I'm the tomboy of the family, I like sports (especially football), guns and don't mind getting my hands dirty. I can keep up with the boys, take it and dish it right back out. I love being in the military, and picked the toughest job that I could in one of the toughest areas of the world. I cuss, I yell and I don't act like a lady and somehow that's attractive to guys. Yea I don't get that one, but that's not the point haha. I'm the one that everyone expected to be one thing and I decided to prove them all wrong.
I love the way that I am, and I love my family, but sometimes it's weird to see how amazing they are and how completely average I am. Oh well. Just some random observations from a bored little sailor. Hopefully next time I post, it'll be a little more interesting.
Love from your favorite MA,
Victoria
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Going to the green side
So yesterday I started Embarked Security Combat Skills class here on Norfolk Naval Shipyard with my future unit, Coastal Riverine Group 2 (CRG-2). It is my final school before I ship off to Bahrain next month and from the looks of things, it's going to be pretty intense. High speed, low drag is what they are telling us, in fact, this whole next week we're going to be staying off base at a range to practice with our crew-served weapons. A whole week out on the range doing nothing but shooting big guns. I think I'm going to be in heaven.
I switched over from my blue cammies to my greens today. They are a uniform that only two units use, the Seabees and the Riverines which I'm in. Not gonna lie, they make me look like a bowl of guacamole, but it's nice knowing that I'm one of the only two units in the Navy that gets to wear this uniform. Plus, they make me look more like a real "soldier" and not a blueberry. The greens are a lot more comfortable than the blues too so that's really nice. It's just one more reminder that I'm one step closer to being deployed.
I really don't have that much more to put out...I wish more exciting things would happen to me.
Hugs from your favorite MA
Victoria
I switched over from my blue cammies to my greens today. They are a uniform that only two units use, the Seabees and the Riverines which I'm in. Not gonna lie, they make me look like a bowl of guacamole, but it's nice knowing that I'm one of the only two units in the Navy that gets to wear this uniform. Plus, they make me look more like a real "soldier" and not a blueberry. The greens are a lot more comfortable than the blues too so that's really nice. It's just one more reminder that I'm one step closer to being deployed.
I really don't have that much more to put out...I wish more exciting things would happen to me.
Hugs from your favorite MA
Victoria
Saturday, January 4, 2014
In retrospect
So today, someone that I met through my ex is getting married to his fiancee. When they first set a date, I was still with my fiancee and we were actually planning on attending the wedding together, it was three days before I was originally supposed to leave for boot camp (yea that's another paragraph further down). They're tying the knot and saying I do today and even though I know that I made the right decision to end my relationship, but it's kind of bittersweet to know that they're going to have that forever happiness with each other and I'm still having to wait. It's by choice that I'm single now, and I'm okay with that, but it still kinda sucks that I'm not the one getting my forever happy ending. I was so excited about getting married, I was going to have my perfect wedding, the day that every girl dreams about at some point in her life, and I gave it up.
I'm jealous, honestly. They got engaged after I did and they were going to be married over a year sooner than I was. It didn't seem fair to me, that I had to wait, mostly because of my parents wanting me to, but also because the military situation was going to keep me from being able to live with my husband after we got married. But they were going to be able to get married and live happily ever after pretty much immediately. But that's the curse of following my dream and joining the military. I'm never going to have the perfect dream life that I dreamed about when I was a civilian. That's just not possible anymore for me, which is probably another reason why my engagement fell apart. But there's no use dwelling on the fact that I was supposed to be at this wedding with my fiancee and now I'm in Gulfport, Mississippi, alone and single. I made my choice.
On the boot camp note, my original ship date for the Navy was January 7, 2014. That's this coming Tuesday. It's just plain weird to think that if I hadn't gotten beyond lucky, I would still be sitting in Atlanta, Georgia waiting to leave for boot camp. I wouldn't have gone through boot camp with the people or RDC's that I had, I wouldn't have had the A School friends that I had or instructors/sponsors. I wouldn't have made the friends that I have today and I probably wouldn't be going to Bahrain with those people or at all. I wouldn't know anyone that I do know and I can't imagine my life without these people anymore. I can't imagine being a civilian anymore, the Navy is the right life for me. I'm almost done with my schooling, and about to head off to my next big adventure. I'm happy, crazy and living my life the way that I decide is right for me, not what other people expect me to do. It's an insane adventure and I'm ready for the ride.
Your reminiscing crazy MA
Victoria :*
I'm jealous, honestly. They got engaged after I did and they were going to be married over a year sooner than I was. It didn't seem fair to me, that I had to wait, mostly because of my parents wanting me to, but also because the military situation was going to keep me from being able to live with my husband after we got married. But they were going to be able to get married and live happily ever after pretty much immediately. But that's the curse of following my dream and joining the military. I'm never going to have the perfect dream life that I dreamed about when I was a civilian. That's just not possible anymore for me, which is probably another reason why my engagement fell apart. But there's no use dwelling on the fact that I was supposed to be at this wedding with my fiancee and now I'm in Gulfport, Mississippi, alone and single. I made my choice.
On the boot camp note, my original ship date for the Navy was January 7, 2014. That's this coming Tuesday. It's just plain weird to think that if I hadn't gotten beyond lucky, I would still be sitting in Atlanta, Georgia waiting to leave for boot camp. I wouldn't have gone through boot camp with the people or RDC's that I had, I wouldn't have had the A School friends that I had or instructors/sponsors. I wouldn't have made the friends that I have today and I probably wouldn't be going to Bahrain with those people or at all. I wouldn't know anyone that I do know and I can't imagine my life without these people anymore. I can't imagine being a civilian anymore, the Navy is the right life for me. I'm almost done with my schooling, and about to head off to my next big adventure. I'm happy, crazy and living my life the way that I decide is right for me, not what other people expect me to do. It's an insane adventure and I'm ready for the ride.
Your reminiscing crazy MA
Victoria :*
Friday, January 3, 2014
Moving right along
Well it's almost that time again. In 48 hours I'll be headed to command number three in four months. I went from Georgia to Chicago, Chicago to San Antonio, San Antonio to Gulfport and now it'll be Gulfport to Norfolk, Virginia. For a girl that lived in the same house in the same city for nineteen years, the rapid number of moves in the last five months has been a little bit of a culture shock for me. Don't get me wrong, I love getting to see all the new cities and places that I'm traveling to, but I'm really ready to get to my ultimate duty station and settle in. I'll be in Bahrain for two years so that should give me plenty of time to actually get settled in somewhere. Then again, once I make Petty Officer, my command in Bahrain is gonna make me move out of the barracks into town housing and that'll mean yet another move. But that shouldn't be until next fall.
I hate packing, like with a passion. It's stressful and tedious and it takes forever to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be and that you haven't forgotten anything. Also, being in the military, while I don't have that much stuff (space doesn't really permit), I still have enough stuff that I feel like I have too much. I now have a seabag, a garment bag, two duffel bags and my big back pack. That may not seem like a lot, but when you're moving barracks room to barracks room every month or so, it gets annoying. Especially when you're trying to move everything on your own down 3 flights of stairs. The taxi is probably going to hate me or think I'm crazy.
And then there's the unpacking process which is almost as annoying as the packing. I can't just unpack a little bit because I actually need everything that I have. Nothing that I own is non essential to my normal life so EVERYTHING has to get unpacked, and then repacked. It stressed me out but that is the military life and it's the life that I picked. At least at this next command that I'm going to be at, I'm actually going to have my own room and my own bathroom so I'll be able to spread out and not have to worry about sharing my space with anybody else. And I can regulate when the light gets turned out. That was a big problem with the roommates I had here. They turned the lights out at like 1900 every night. Infuriating.
I'm so ready to move on from here and go somewhere where there's actually things to do. Only one more month and I'll be getting ready to go to the Middle East for two years. I'm so excited!
Love from your favorite short MA,
Victoria
I hate packing, like with a passion. It's stressful and tedious and it takes forever to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be and that you haven't forgotten anything. Also, being in the military, while I don't have that much stuff (space doesn't really permit), I still have enough stuff that I feel like I have too much. I now have a seabag, a garment bag, two duffel bags and my big back pack. That may not seem like a lot, but when you're moving barracks room to barracks room every month or so, it gets annoying. Especially when you're trying to move everything on your own down 3 flights of stairs. The taxi is probably going to hate me or think I'm crazy.
And then there's the unpacking process which is almost as annoying as the packing. I can't just unpack a little bit because I actually need everything that I have. Nothing that I own is non essential to my normal life so EVERYTHING has to get unpacked, and then repacked. It stressed me out but that is the military life and it's the life that I picked. At least at this next command that I'm going to be at, I'm actually going to have my own room and my own bathroom so I'll be able to spread out and not have to worry about sharing my space with anybody else. And I can regulate when the light gets turned out. That was a big problem with the roommates I had here. They turned the lights out at like 1900 every night. Infuriating.
I'm so ready to move on from here and go somewhere where there's actually things to do. Only one more month and I'll be getting ready to go to the Middle East for two years. I'm so excited!
Love from your favorite short MA,
Victoria
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